


Finding Happiness Through Friends

by GrimSylphie



Series: Finding Happiness [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Chaos Siblings, Gen, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Slice of Life, single parent Booker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:48:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25869205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimSylphie/pseuds/GrimSylphie
Summary: A strange series of events left Booker with a son. What he didn’t expect was that being a single father would make him a hot commodity among mom groups.And then there was Auntie Quynh
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Quynh | Noriko
Series: Finding Happiness [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875796
Comments: 24
Kudos: 273





	Finding Happiness Through Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of Happiness Found Through Cruelty. It’s probably better if you read that first but if you want to skip it know that Booker was taken by people who wanted to continue Merrick’s work. He had a child (André) and has been raising him with Quynh who had rescued him.

Booker missed his wife. Of course he always missed his wife. He had missed her for most of his immortal life. Now though, now he really missed his wife.

Booker had been a good father. He had been involved in his children’s lives and had dutifully helped his wife whenever possible. They hadn’t been wealthy, they weren’t the sort who could afford a nanny so most of the child raising was shared between them.

At least that’s what he had thought. Apparently, he was remembering things the way he wanted them to be and he was probably more of a product of the time he was raised than he thought because he did not remember doing this much work and feeling this bone tired with his other children.

The worst part was, André was such a good baby. He wasn’t overly fussy. He had these stares that cut right through you though and by two weeks in Booker had learned to interpret most of them. Still, André was a baby, he needed everything done for him and for some reason Booker struggled to keep up. He’d try to follow the latest research. He gave André tummy time and watch children’s shows in a mind numbing combination of languages. He’d try to keep him on a schedule, food, naps, bath time, changing but still each night he’d go to bed exhausted.

Quynh was not much help with the day to day work that came with caring for a child and Booker really didn’t feel right asking her for more when she had done so much already. She’d hold Andre when Booker needed a shower or when he was quiet and sleeping but Booker could tell she wasn’t much good with babies. She wouldn’t feed him or change a diaper unless she had to. She would tell him about all the battles she fought and all the weapons she would teach him to use when he was older but Booker wasn’t sure if that was much of a comfort. André would always be safe but he might also learn far more about warfare than Booker intended for him to know.

Booker needed... something. Something that could help him from feeling so alone in the world, so burnt out. He found that something at a coffee shop he frequented. Fresh coffee had become a necessity once André entered the world. Each day he would take André in his stroller and walk to the cafe so Andre could see the world and Booker could have a conversation (even if that conversation was just a coffee order) with someone who wasn’t Quynh or his four month old who couldn’t talk back. 

It was there on a Thursday afternoon that he met them. A new mom group. They all had children that looked to be between three months and a year in age and they all seemed to be together. At first, he didn’t think to approach. Not only because he was sitting in one of the plush chairs provided by the cafe but also because he didn’t belong. After all, mom groups were by definition generally women’s spaces. It wasn’t until he heard that one mom had forgotten formula and would have to run home because she didn’t want to upset her little girl’s stomach with a strange formula because little Sophie was a picky eater who only ate brand X that he spoke up. “Miss, I have extra if you need some. My son uses the same brand and it seems a shame for you to lose out on socialization time for the both of you over something so small.”

The women looked at him incredulously. He doubted they even noticed André given that he was tucked to Booker’s chest asleep as his father read a book.

“Oh no. I couldn’t do that, what if he gets hungry?” She replied, too kindly.

“I have more than enough. I always bring more than he needs just in case we get delayed. It would be no problem.” He replied, keeping André close to him as he reached into a leather diaper bag that Quynh had gotten him as a surprise ‘push present’. She had cackled at the words when she handed it to him and he couldn’t help smiling every time he saw the bag. He pulled out the extra formula and passed it over. 

“Do you come here often?” Another woman asked. 

“Yes, usually we don’t stay so long but André had a rough night last night and I don’t want to wake him.” Booker admitted.

“He’s so cute.” Another woman chimed in. “He must look a lot like his mama.” 

Booker tensed briefly. That was the usual guess. Andre’s tanned caramel skin tone was the first thing they noticed. His facial features were more reminiscent of Booker’s as was his hair but his complexion was always the first thing they noticed. “Yes. She would have loved to see him.” He said she but he thought of Joe... and Nicky and what they would think if they knew. It had been easier to just pretend that André’s mother was gone rather than explaining that he technically was André’s mother.

“Oh I’m sorry.” The woman commented. 

“You know we meet here one Tuesdays and Thursdays at 13:00. You should join us. We discuss our struggles and share tips on parenting.” The young woman whose daughter needed formula had offered. “I’m Celia, by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Bastian.” Booker replied with the shortened version of his name he had signed the apartment lease under.

What Booker didn’t realize was being accepted as the long single dad in a new mother’s group made him a hot commodity. Soon enough he had a packed schedule as the women took him under their wing.

Monday he joined them for mommy and me yoga. He was initially nervous given that, while he was technically André’s mother no one could know or would believe that but his single dad credit got him in. He liked it because it helped him stay loose in between the rare spars he had with Quynh on nights André fell asleep early. It also strengthened André’s little muscles and allowed them to bond.

Tuesday’s and Thursday’s were the aforementioned meetings at the cafe. He had learned more about these women in a month then he had known about anyone outside of his family since he first died. He knew about Sabrina and Lottie’s secret hatred towards each other. Marisol’s struggling marriage, and Celia’s struggles to balance work and motherhood. 

They often asked Booker for his advice from “a male’s perspective” and he had learned to walk the fine line between telling them what he thought and telling them what a man who hadn’t spent his immortal life having feminism drilled into him by his two loving older sisters would probably think. They continued to approve of him so things seemed to be going well.

Wednesday’s were the day when the librarian read children’s books. Booker often read aloud to André on his own but this was another chance for André to socialize with other children. He seemed to like the kids from the group well enough though it was hard to tell when he wasn’t even walking.

Fridays were different. That was the night the women made the husbands watch the babies and drank wine. By this point in the week Booker was worn down by all the interaction with people outside of his family. That fact combined with the drinking made it a no go for Booker. The women always seemed somewhat disappointed so one day he offered to send his sister in his place.

At the time he figured it would be good for Quynh to socialize with modern society and really the worst that could happen was he’d be kicked out of the group and have to do yoga and visit cafes with André on his own. What he didn’t expect was for each woman in the club to either fall in love with or fear Quynh. 

He really should have. Quynh scared him sometimes. The best way to describe her was ‘intense’. At times he felt like the years spent with Andy were just training to survive Quynh. Some mornings after he fed André, Quynh would drag him down to the little courtyard of their house and beat the shit out of him with a sword to keep him in shape. When she wanted him to make breakfast she would stare him down until he asked her what she wanted. Quynh was terrifying. 

She was also his best friend. She had rescued him, sliced him open to save André, and from any real of perceived threat. She was hilarious with a dry wit and cynicism that only someone who had seen several lifetimes could have and she was kind... at least if she liked you. Celia was her favorite among the moms so when she hosted Quynh brought her expensive bottles of wine liberated from drug traffickers on her last “holiday”. Sabrina was her least favorite. She got the cheapest wine from the corner store that Quynh poured out, put half in the fridge for next time, put the rest back in the bottle where she topped it off with water and recorked it for the party. 

So yeah, fear and love two emotions Booker understood far too well when it came to Quynh.

Weekends were just for family. They’d take André to the park and have a picnic or go sightseeing in a nearby city. Then they’d come home and talk about anything and everything. 

“You know, as much as I am grateful for your presence, I wouldn’t be insulted if you wanted to see Andy and the boys again or even just meet Nile.” He offered. They were each sitting with their backs against one arm of the couch, facing each other. Their feet were tangled between them in a blanket. André was on Booker’s lap asleep after a visit to the zoo. 

“I know. My place is here though. If they wanted to find me they could have. The fact that they keep their distance says more than I can understand.” She paused with a fond smile. “While I would like to meet Nile because she seems so effervescent I know that if I do I won’t be able to see the others anymore and know they are safe. So it’s better this way.” She explained. 

“Hmmm...” Booker acknowledged thoughtful. He ran his hand through André’s curls. In the past month his baby hairs had started forming the most perfect sandy ringlets. They contrasted well with his skin tone. A part of him assumed he was Joe’s. It made sense but... his eyes. They didn’t stay quite at the same baby blue they were when he was formed. They turned into the blue green of the ocean at uninhabited Mediterranean beaches. They turned to a shade and shape that mirrored Nicky’s. They were so distinctive that Booker didn’t think they could be a coincidence. If he didn’t know how science worked he’d have assumed that André was a perfect mix of the three of them. He had Booker’s facial shape, his nose, and his dark sandy hair but he seemed to have Nicky’s cheekbones and eyes, and then Joe’s ears, a skintone just slightly lighter, and his curls. He wondered what they would think of André. They’d probably love him but would they let Booker keep him. Logically, he knew they wouldn’t be so cruel but a small protective part of him wanted to keep André to himself. The exile was just a convenient excuse to keep his son to himself and not have to face what happened, what he had done. He knew that day would come eventually but he just wanted to keep this idyllic life for now. 

“You’re thinking about them again.” Quynh observed. “Still trying to figure out who your baby daddy is?” She asked with a chuckle.

Booker instantly regretted Quynh’s friendship with the mom group women. They provided her with slang that made him want to stab himself. “Please never use that term again.”

She cackled. “No promises. I did find something that might help you though. I was looking up if it was possible to have two fathers and I discovered that sometimes if you have two eggs you can have twins with different fathers.”

“He’s not a twin though.” Booker interrupted. Quynh enjoyed looking up conspiracies online and laughing at them. They occasionally lead her to make outrageous claims and he was never sure if she brought them up to tease him or if she actually believed them.

This time Quynh kicked him for his impudence. Booker flinched. “Watch the baby!” He shouted. André barely stirred though.

“I wasn’t finished! Once I saw that I fell down a rabbit hole of weird genetic anomalies. From there I found out there is this thing called double fertilization. When two sperm fertilize the same egg.” She wiggled her eyebrows, pleased with herself and honestly Booker regretted teaching her about the internet. He might have regretted telling her what science said about the human reproductive system except that it helped ensure André’s survival. “It happens in 1% of pregnancies and usually they don’t make it but sometimes they do and they show traits from both. What if that’s what happened with André? After all it wasn’t like he was made through sex. They just stuck a bunch of Nicky and Joe’s jizz in and let them fly.” 

Booker winced at her use of the word ‘jizz’ and wondered for a moment if it wouldn’t be better to just send Andy a letter that said ‘Come get your girl!’ before she picked up more unfortunate modern day colloquialisms. “It would be highly unlikely.”

Quynh smirked. She knew that unlikely wasn’t the same as impossible. “Yes, but so is immortality, so is a man without the parts for it bearing a child. It’s possible and if you look at him, it’s probable.” 

Booker had to admit it would explain things. It wasn’t my like they could get a DNA test to prove or disprove Quynh’s theory. “I suppose. I haven’t heard any better explanation. I’m willing to go with it for now.” 

Quynh counted it as a win. “Then it’s settled. André it seems you have two daddy’s. Three if we count your momma.” She offered. 

André only let out a small yawn and shifted in response.

**Author's Note:**

> Next part will probably be about the rest of the team. Nile knows something’s up because she and Quynh share dreams but does she say anything?


End file.
